difficult tenants + absentee owner not willing to kick them out

difficult tenants + absentee owner not willing to kick them out

Bay Area, CA · Member since 2008 · 55 posts · 26 votes

I went into contract with this absentee owner. The ARV is $550k, contract price is $400k. The repair should be around $60k. However, there might be problem with the roof and major termite issue underneath the bathroom, since the wall in the shower was opened and the tenant just put something like a sheetrock there, it wasn't fixed properly, so water can go down and cause major damage to the subfloor or the foundation, which would greatly increase the rehab cost.

The tenants have been living there for over 23 years, they don't want to move, (a couple in the 50s with the dad in his 80s) so they don't let me in to do the inspection. Landlord inherited the property from his stepfather, he has $330k mortgage on it, he just do cash out re-fi this year and got $100k loan out of the property this year, so I guess he wants money. So to him there is about $70k profit.

I really need to do the inspection of the roof and the subfloor to see if that would cost me another $15k ~ $25k for the repair.

The landlord already filed eviction and received the Writ of Possession, so he can kick out the tenant and let me do the inspection. However, the landlord want to keep the rent coming in, that's why he doesn't want to kick out the tenant. We have been trying to get the tenant's cooperation to get in for the last 2 weeks without any success.

Without the inspection, it is hard to ask the seller to just lower it by another $20k, however, if I ask the landlord to kick out the tenant and then do the inspection and lower the price after that, the landlord might feel being used. And without the rental income, he might feel the pressure from the mortgage payment and be pissed off that I put him in that situation and cancel the deal.

So what would you suggest?

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Rental Property Investor · Mercer Island, WA · Member since 2008 · 22k+ posts · 14k+ votes
13y

Assume the worst for repairs and actually getting the current tenants out and make your offer based on that. The seller's putting you in the position where you have no other choice.

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  • Rental Property Investor · Mercer Island, WA · Member since 2008 · 22k+ posts · 14k+ votes
    13y

    Assume the worst for repairs and actually getting the current tenants out and make your offer based on that. The seller's putting you in the position where you have no other choice.

  • Longmont, CO · Member since 2013 · 15 posts · 1 vote
    13y

    Look at it from the point of view of the tenant. They don't want to move so anything they can do to drag out the process, the better for them. It delays the inevitable; they might even be able to squash the whole deal (from their point of view). Is there some incentive you can offer the tenants to cooperate? I had some difficult tenants once that I wanted to just get out of a rental fast. I offered to give them their full deposit back so they had the money to move, even though there were some damages. But it was cheaper than going to court. If you offer them $200 to allow you to come in and inspect the place, they just might take it. It could save you $20,000!!

  • Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    13y

    Drop the amount you are willing to pay the seller. The tenants' behavior is the seller's problem right now; the seller being greedy kept him from completing the eviction, and that greed has a price that devalues the property.

    But how is the tenant preventing inspection of the roof? Is it because you want to see ceilings inside? The condition of the roof should be apparent externally in lots of cases.

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